Sairalanmäki military graves

Sairalanmäki has a monument that says: “Stop, traveller. Bare your head on behalf of your country. To the memory of the fallen 5/VII – 19/VII 1789.” The name of Sairalanmäki (sairaala means hospital in English) comes from the military hospital that used to be on the hill.

The locals say that Sairalanmäki is haunted. Officers in fine costumes who fell in the war rumble in their chariots at dusk and on moonlit nights, and after a short time they disintegrate into fog. One of the drivers has a high feather hat on his head. This is told by the old matron of Sairalanmäki’s croft in the book Heitänkö helekoo ja muita savolaisia kummitustarinoita (Aini Rössi, 1981).

Image: Anna Tiippana